What did intersex woman say doctors said when she confronted them?
Forced and coercive medically unnecessary interventions on the bodies of intersex children may sometimes be described critically or euphemistically as “normalization” surgeries, but also as “corrections,” treatment for “malformations,” genital “enhancement,” “genital reconstruction,” “sex assignment” or “gender assignment,” or “gender reassignment.” 24 The procedures involved …
Should intersex issues be treated as trans issues?
The United Nations states that intersex people suffer stigma on the basis of physical characteristics, "including violations of their rights to health and physical integrity, to be free from torture and ill-treatment, and to equality and non- discrimination." The UN has called for governments to end discrimination against intersex people:
Should the intersex exception be removed from WPATH’s standards of care?
Apr 20, 2017 · Depression and suicidal risk among discriminated LGBT youth. Sexual minority adolescents report a greater incidence of mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and increased suicidal behaviors than heterosexual adolescents [].In a school-based survey conducted in Boston, Massachusetts (n = 1320), 10% of participants identified themselves as LGBT and …
Are intersex surgeries beneficial or harmful?
Treatment for Intersex Conditions. Treatment for intersex conditions depends upon the underlying cause, but may include medication or surgery. Health professionals often recommend delaying surgery until the child is old enough to take part in decisions about treatment. References Donohoue, PA. (2011). Disorders of sex development (intersex).
How are intersex people treated in society?
Intersex people often experience prejudice and discrimination because their bodies do not conform to other people's expectations about sex and gender. In some parts of the world, people who have visible intersex traits, such as ambiguous genitalia, face abandonment and violence.Apr 16, 2019
What percent of intersex people get surgery?
Patient outcomes 81% of 439 individuals had been subjected to surgeries due to their intersex diagnoses. Almost 50% of participants reported psychological problems. Two thirds of the adult participants drew a connection between sexual problems and their history of surgical treatment.
Are there medical risks associated with intersex conditions?
As with female or male bodies different kinds of intersex bodies can have health risks that are specific to them. Like women have a higher risk of getting breat cancer than men.
Is intersex becoming more common?
Being intersex is also more common than most people realize. It's hard to know exactly how many people are intersex, but estimates suggest that about 1-2 in 100 people born in the U.S. are intersex. There are many different ways someone can be intersex.
Can intersex be corrected?
Intersex surgeries include reducing or repositioning a clitoris (which can result in the loss of sexual sensation), creating or altering a vagina, moving a urethra that already works, and removing organs that would make sex hormones (such as gonadectomy, which can result in sterilization).Jul 1, 2021
What does Islam say about intersex?
An intersex person is called a Khunthaa in the books of Fiqh. Intersex medical interventions are considered permissible to achieve agreement between a person's exterior, chromosomal make-up or sex organs. They are regarded as treatment and not the altering of Allah's creation or imitation of the opposite sex.
Are intersex people a mutation?
Australian researchers have discovered a new genetic disorder linked to people being born intersex. A genetic mutation that causes skull abnormality has been linked to intersex conditions.Sep 28, 2015
Are hermaphrodite humans fertile?
There are extremely rare cases of fertility in "truly hermaphroditic" humans. In 1994 a study on 283 cases found 21 pregnancies from 10 true hermaphrodites, while one allegedly fathered a child.
Is being intersex a birth defect?
It can be scary for new parents to hear anything unexpected from a doctor once their baby is born. But intersex traits occur naturally, and it's not a disease or condition that affects baby's physical health. When a baby is born, they're assigned a biological sex — either male or female — based on their genitals.Oct 29, 2019
Which is the rarest form of intersex?
True hermaphroditismTrue hermaphroditism, the rarest form of intersex, is usually diagnosed during the newborn period in the course of evaluating ambiguous genitalia.
Can intersex people get themselves pregnant?
Do you have both male and female reproductive organs? Some intersex people have both testes and ovaries. You may be able to get pregnant on your own, if you also have a uterus. However, if you have testes, they may be releasing more testosterone than would be optimal for conception and pregnancy.
How common is intersex Pubmed?
Applying this more precise definition, the true prevalence of intersex is seen to be about 0.018%, almost 100 times lower than Fausto-Sterling s estimate of 1.7%.
Why do intersex people suffer stigma?
The United Nations states that intersex people suffer stigma on the basis of physical characteristics, "including violations of their rights to health and physical integrity, to be free from torture and ill-treatment, and to equality and non- discrimination.".
What are the rights of intersex people?
Where these occur without personal informed consent, these are "violations of their rights to health and physical integrity, to be free from torture and ill-treatment, and to equality and non-discrimination."
Why are intersex children's genitalia circulated?
Photographs of intersex children's genitalia are circulated in medical communities for documentary purposes, and individuals with intersex traits may be subjected to repeated genital examinations and display to medical teams. Sharon Preves described this as a form of humiliation and stigmatization, leading to an "inability to deflect negative associations of self" where "genitalia must be revealed in order to allow for stigmatization". According to Creighton et al, the "experience of being photographed has exemplified for many people with intersex conditions the powerlessness and humiliation felt during medical investigations and interventions".
What are the genetics of intersex?
Further information: Genetic diagnosis of intersex. Intersex people face genetic de-selection via pregnancy terminations and preimplantation genetic diagnosis, as well as abandonment, neglect, infanticide and murder due to their sex characteristics.
What is Article 19?
Article 19 ("Any discrimination, unequal treatment or unequal position of a person or group of persons on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation and / or intersex characteristics is considered discrimination."). Retrieved 2020-11-08.
What is the purpose of ban discrimination?
Ban discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics, intersex traits or status, including in education, health care, employment, sports and access to public services, and consult intersex people and organizations when developing legislation and policies that impact their rights.
What are the effects of intersex discrimination?
Intersex people face discrimination in education, employment, healthcare, sport, with an impact on mental and physical health, and on poverty levels, including as a result of harmful medical practices.
Why do LGBT people fear coming out?
LGBT youth face a fear of coming out and discrimination because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression [1]. It can lead to an increased risk of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance use, and self-destructive behaviors.
What are the disadvantages of adolescence?
Reaching adolescence appears to be one of the hardest milestones. Resentment revolves around the subject of homophobia and heterosexism and it is not limited to their homes. They also struggle with these issues at schools and in the community.
What are the risks of LGBT youth?
The LGBT youth are at a higher risk for substance use, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), cancers, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, bullying, isolation, rejection, anxiety, depression, and suicide as compared to the general population.
What is intersex disorder?
Intersex conditions, also known as disorders of sex development (DSD), occur when infants are born with a mix of male and female genital ia. The disorders cause a mismatch in the external and internal reproductive organs. The child's body may not be completely male, nor totally female. For example, a person may appear female, ...
What is intersex condition?
The most common cause of intersex conditions is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), which occurs in 1 out of every 15,000 live births worldwide. There are four main categories of intersex conditions: Female with male-looking or ambiguous genitals.
What is a mix of male and female characteristics?
A mix of male and female characteristics. In this type of intersex condition—known as true gonadal DSD or ovotesticular DSD—the person has both testicular and ovarian tissue. The tissue may appear as a separate ovary and testis, or show up within the same gonad (called an ovotestis).
Why do females have adrenal hyperplasia?
It usually results from a female fetus being exposed to a large amount of male sex hormones before birth, such as: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (the most common cause) is a group of inherited disorders in which the adrenal gland lacks an enzyme that is needed to make the hormones cortisol and aldosterone.
What is the purpose of testosterone gel?
Exposure by the mother to male hormones during pregnancy, such as testosterone gel used by men to treat a hormone deficiency. Tumors in the mother that produce male hormones (often ovarian tumors) Deficiency in the enzyme aromatase, which is responsible for converting male hormones to female hormones.
What causes intersex disorder in children?
Frequency of these conditions depends upon the specific type. The most common cause of intersex conditions is congenital adrenal hyperplasia ...
Why do people have DSD?
For most people, the underlying cause of true gonadal DSD is unknown, although some studies in animals have linked this condition to exposure to pesticides used for agriculture. Complex or undetermined DSD. Other problems with the chromosomes can lead to intersex conditions.
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Abstract
Non-therapeutic medical interventions on the bodies of children born with disorders of sex development (DSD)/intersex variations have been subject to increasing critical scrutiny.
Introduction 1
International law and civil society have become increasingly critical of non-therapeutic medical interventions on the bodies of children born with intersex variations. This has been provoked by evidence of the harms occasioned by such surgery and increasing awareness of the children’s rights.
Intersex variations
Intersex is an umbrella term referring to a diverse range of congenital bodily variations that at the chromosomal, gonadal, hormonal and/or anatomical level do not neatly fit into the binary categories of male or female.
Current international guidelines on optimal clinical management
In 2006, over 50 international paediatric endocrinologists met to review the management and long-term outcomes of ‘intersex disorders’.
Methods
FoI requests are an increasingly important methodological tool particularly in healthcare, as ‘data obtained from multiple NHS trusts can provide a rich corpora of data swiftly’ that are not readily available within the public domain.
Results
Of the 128 responses, we identified 15 Trusts that provide care, with 105 Trusts referring patients to these ‘hub hospitals’. 61 It is a concern that eight Trusts claimed they had no engagement with the issues raised, or no guidelines on where to refer patients.
Who was the first to develop intersex medical?
Modern ideas of medicalization of intersex and birth defects can be traced to French anatomist Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1805–1861), who pioneered the field of teratology . Since the 1920s surgeons have attempted to "fix" an increasing variety of conditions.
What is the consensus statement on intersex disorder?
On surgical rationales and outcomes, the Consensus Statement on Intersex Disorders and their Management stated that: It is generally felt that surgery that is carried out for cosmetic reasons in the first year of life relieves parental distress and improves attachment between the child and the parents.
What is the campaign for intersex rights?
The same year, Amnesty International published a report on the situation of intersex persons in Denmark and Germany and launched a campaign for intersex human's rights: "First, Do No Harm: ensuring the rights of children born intersex".
What was the pediatric surgery textbook in the 1980s?
Throughout the 1980s pediatric surgery textbooks recommended female assignment and feminizing reconstructive surgery for XY infants with a severely inadequate phallus. Nevertheless, in the 1980s several factors began to induce a decline in the frequency of certain types of genital surgery.
How was sex of assignment and rearing determined?
Since ability to determine even the type of gonads in infancy was limited, sex of assignment and rearing were determined mainly by the appearance of the external genitalia. Most of Young's intersex patients were adults willingly seeking his help with physical problems of genital function.
What was the biological factor in 1990?
By 1990, biological factors were being reported for a wide variety of human behaviors and personality characteristics. The idea that culture accounted for all the differences between men and women seemed as obsolete as psychotherapy for homosexuality .
What was the rise of infant surgery and "nurture over nature"?
By the 1960s, the young specialties of pediatric surgery and pediatric urology at children's hospitals were universal ly admired for bringing infant birth defect surgery to new levels of success and safety.
What does intersex mean in human rights?
Human Rights Watch and interACT recognize and respect that some people may feel alienated by this definition , some people may disagree with the definition, or some people may object to the use of labels to describe their identities, conditions, or experiences. During each interview, researchers asked interviewees to explain which terms they preferred and identified with. In cases where Human Rights Watch interviewed individuals who specifically rejected the label of “intersex” either for themselves or for their children, they are referred to by their preferred terminology in this report.
What is the paradigm of intersex children?
Despite evolution in care for intersex children and more than two decades of debate and controversy, the US paradigm of treatment for children with intersex traits remains grounded in the practice of early cosmetic genital surgery. And the paradigm continues to have global resonance.
What is Interact in the United States?
Founded in 2006, interACT is an organization in the United States focused on advocating for the human rights of children born with intersex traits.
What happens if you remove a gonad?
The genital surgeries done on intersex children can result in loss of sexual sensation and ongoing pain.
When did intersex surgery start?
Beginning with the founding of the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) in 1993, decades of public advocacy chiseled at the medical dogma supporting early non-consensual cosmetic surgeries on intersex children. Meanwhile, more and more intersex adults came forward to say they had been harmed by such surgery. However despite significant publicity— The New York Times and Newsweek ran major stories in 1997 [77] —and controversy within the medical community, surgeries remain common. Healthcare providers say their attitudes have changed over time, crediting the stories of intersex lives irreparably harmed by early surgeries.
Why do boys have undescended testes?
Undescended testes in boys, which is a minor atypicality of the sex organs, requires a simple procedure. in early childhood to prevent future infertility. Some intersex traits may heighten the risk of gonadal cancer. Of course, if cancer is present, treatment is medically necessary.
When did Dr. Reimer transition to male?
By the time he was 15, Reimer had transitioned to living as male. In 1997, Milton Diamond, a sexologist at the University of Hawaii, and Dr. Keith Sigmundson, a Canadian psychiatrist who had seen Reimer as a patient, published a paper based on Reimer’s outcomes that denounced early genital surgery on intersex children.
Trephination
Trephination dates back to the earliest days in the history of mental illness treatments. It is the process of removing a small part of the skull using an auger, bore, or saw. This practice began around 7,000 years ago, likely to relieve headaches, mental illness, and even the belief of demonic possession.
Bloodletting and Purging
Though this treatment gained prominence in the Western world beginning in the 1600s, it has roots in ancient Greek medicine. Claudius Galen believed that disease and illness stemmed from imbalanced humors in the body. English physician Thomas Willis used Galen’s writings as a basis for this approach to treating mentally ill patients.
Isolation and Asylums
Isolation was the preferred treatment for mental illness beginning in medieval times, which may explain why mental asylums became widespread by the 17th century.
Insulin Coma Therapy
This treatment was introduced in 1927 and continued until the 1960s. In insulin coma therapy, physicians deliberately put the patient into a low blood sugar coma because they believed large fluctuations in insulin levels could alter how the brain functioned. Insulin comas could last one to four hours.
Metrazol Therapy
In metrazol therapy, physicians introduced seizures using a stimulant medication. Seizures began roughly a minute after the patient received the injection and could result in fractured bones, torn muscles, and other adverse effects. The therapy was usually administered several times a week. Metrazol was withdrawn from use by the FDA in 1982.
Lobotomy
This now-obsolete treatment won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1949. It was designed to disrupt the circuits of the brain but came with serious risks. Popular during the 1940s and 1950s, lobotomies were always controversial and prescribed in psychiatric cases deemed severe.